As personal trainers we’re taught to educate, motivate, and inspire our clients. We frame our services as the “ultimate accountability tool”. We attract clients who want to change their body and change their life. We are taught to cheerlead them through every pound and inch lost, and help them stay consistent with their workouts so they can “get results fast”. Our clients brag about how often they work out, how many calories they burned in a session, and how “good” they were on their diet. We high five them, and of course share every before and after picture on Instagram. We get so caught up in the #fitspo (fitness inspiration) of it all, that we don’t realize how much the fitness industry glorifies, or at the very least, normalizes disordered eating and exercise behaviors. The question remains, are we really helping our clients, or are we actually encouraging them to develop an eating disorder?

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